March 2, 2010

The Museum of Modern Art in New York recently closed it’s astonishing show, Bauhaus: Workshops for Modernity. That’s the bad news. The good news, is that among the 400 pieces featured were a number of styles that are still being manufactured, and still going strong in the home furnishings market. So you can add a little Bauhaus to Your-House, and I recommend that you do! Anything from this school of design will look just as fresh in another twenty, thirty or fifty years, as it does today.

The Bauhaus German school for modern art and design existed for a mere 14 years (1919-1933). Yet in that brief time it’s students and instructors revolutionized the world of design, bringing it out of the Victorian period and irrevocably into the modern era.

It’s a testament to the foresight and aesthetic of the designers of the Bauhaus movement that ninety years later, our 21st century eye still reads the pieces as very modern, and not at all dated or old fashioned. In fact, almost everything in design that we think of as modern today, springs directly from this incredibly creative, prolific, influential period.

The Nesting Tables above, by Josef Albers 1926-27 are available through the MoMA shop.

The lighting pieces below are all original Bauhaus designs. The ceiling fixtures to the right and center are Marianne Brandt designs. The one in the center is available through Technolumen.com. The weighted pendant lamp is available through Bonluxat.com. The table lamp, designed by Wagenfeld and Junker, is available from the MoMA Store.

Don’t be afraid to mix modern classics from the Bauhaus period with classics from earlier periods. This cabriole leg table from Kravet works beautifully with the Eames Molded Plastic Chair, because they both share many of the same elegant timeless qualities: clean lines, beautiful curves. I would do six of the Eames Chairs around this table. The table is available through Gaita Interiors. The Eames Chair is available through the MoMA shop.

This white chaise by Eames with it’s floating organic form is very incredibly current looking, and as good as adding a piece of sculpture to your home. It’s hard to believe that it was conceived over sixty years ago! It’s available through the MoMa StoreWHITECHAISElkr0e98g0w3485gjp0958np0g97wo9485j30uvmgp0485j4h9576npw4976gjp4nloitpe9tuimvoe9tuno;9utb;so9tusbiruteo8btyusoeirkeiyt
Below is a period photo of Marcel Breuer with his ubiquitous design, the Wassily Chair.

The chair is manufactured by Hermann Miller, and is available through Gaita Interiors.eitun8THISISTHELASTTHINGHOORAYotnpe8tulvn9eurpn9vs8yrtb8rytnv8rps8rtuvamoeiut985nytbs8eiytnvp8ypv8ytWASSILYCHAIRABOVEldkrjtovn94unv;o9urv4957nvoeivt7upvhn98t987v5q93857yp9385yoe45uip0me9ut;vwp94u0wn9586pn56u

In other cases, fallen branches, barely modified are being bundled together and turned into tables. Pieces of driftwood are being put to practical use, for the first time in their long…drifting… existence.